Pretty Little Liars: "Out, Damned Spot" Review
Pretty Little Liars
Season 5.19
“Out, Damned Spot”
Previously on Pretty Little Liars.....
The Liars give blood!!! (OMG). Andrew tutors Aria and protects the girls. M&M meets Hank Mahoney (aka “Cyrus the Virus”). Hanna goes in search of financial aid for college and this leads the entire PLL Fandom to asks the question: Who is Hanna’s Daddy!!??!!
Ashley Marin is in charge of the blood drive, and she recruits the PLLs to donate. Hanna (O negative), didn’t you learn in season 2....never ever let someone have your blood! While waiting the girls see Mike crash into the blood cart and apparently steal a vial of blood. Aria is still in denial that her little brother is involved in some big secrets in Rosewood.
In fact, Aria is so upset that she can’t complete her math test. So she copies from Andrew Campbell’s test as he conveniently holds his paper up for her to see. Now Andrew is the class Valedictorian, so I know he knows better. This all seems like a set up to me. Andrew later confronts Aria about cheating and suggests that he can be her tutor.
Emily and Talia.... such repeated characterization of Miss Fields. Yes, she always goes for the closeted or unavailable (Paige)!!! This week she learns Talia’s full name. Talia Sandoval Mendoza. Talia is married to Eric, her best friend that she married after high school, who knows that she is attracted to women. Emily please wake up!!! Your life is complicated enough!!!
Ashley says yes to Ted’s marriage proposal and then tells him about Jason. Ted tells her he needs to think! I really have my eye on these two. It would not surprise me if either of them have a very big part to play in this season’s finale. Stay tuned.
Spencer helps Jonny paint a mural at Hollis during the middle of the night. The next day the mural is front page news with the Headline: Vandalism at Hollis College. Spencer, you are suppose to be the “smart one”. Stay away from Jonny. He is up to no good. Who paints murals in the middle of the night anyway?
Aria discovers that Mike has been getting phone messages from Hank Mahoney at the Chester Women’s Correctional Facility. *cough, Ali, cough* When she confronts Mike he tells her, “next time don’t answer my phone.” He slams the door in her face and then goes to the mini fridge in his room and pulls a vial of blood from a Power Mass energy drink container. The next day Emily sees Mike withdraw money from an ATM and retrieves the forgotten receipt. He only withdraws $400.00, but the balance of $18,000.00 puts Emily on high alert. She interrupts Aria’s tutoring session with Andrew to show Aria the receipt. As they are talking they see Mike take off in the family car. How convenient that Andrew is there and agrees to drive them to follow Mike since neither Aria nor Emily can drive a stick shift. They follow Mike to Jonah’s diner.
Aria thanks Andrew and tells him he can still make batting practice. Mike goes inside the diner and meets with Hank Mahoney, aka Cyrus Petrillo, aka Ali’s fake kidnapper. Mike gives Cyrus/Hank a small yellow envelope. (The Blood??? I think not...) Meanwhile Spencer arrives at Jonah’s to spy and provide transportation to follow Cyrus. But Cyrus confronts the girls in the parking lot on his motorcycle. Luckily good old Andrew stuck around and is there to scare Cyrus away with his baseball bat! Question: whose team is Andrew playing for? A Team or B Team?
Poor Hanna misses out on the excitement because she had to visit her “father” to ask for financial assistance to pay for college. Tom tells Hanna that her stepsister, Kate, is attending Dartmouth in the fall and he is paying for it, but he can’t afford to pay for two private school tuitions. Apparently he and Ashley had an agreement for $10,000.00 per year for Hanna included in their divorce decree. I believe that Ashley’s secrets will start to be revealed soon....and one of them is that Tom is not Hanna’s biological father!!! He even has her sit across the desk from him as if he is talking with a business associate!
The episode ends with Mike stalking the girls at Spencer’s house. Mike you are creepy, scary, and probably about to get into serious trouble in the upcoming episodes. Did Mike give money, Hanna’s blood, or false blood to Cyrus?
Until next time Liars! Keep your friends close and your secrets closer!!!
P.S. In addition to my reviews here on Picture Lock, I am starting a new PLL Theories Page. Follow me at cdjack11cdjack11.tumblr.com for “A Liar’s Secrets”.
Pretty Little Liars: "Oh, What Hard Luck..." Review
Pretty Little Liars
Season 5.18
“Oh, What Hard Luck Stories They All Hand Me"
Previously on Pretty Little Liars.....
Detective ShadyBrook is back and finally ready to admit that Ali got her hooks in him. We also meet Mona’s friend, Lesli, who leads Hanna to Mona Flashbacks and big clues hiding in the spine of Poe. We also learn about Mike’s mysterious activities that may link him to Mona and Alison. However, it is Hanna the Rebel, who gives the performance of the week!
Hanna and Caleb are called into the police station to be questioned about the storage unit. While they are there they see ShadyBrook get fired. He is irate as he storms to his desk to box up some of his belongings and yells, “This department has screwed up the investigation from the start, and now you’re trying to blame it on me? You have no idea what’s really going on here, do you? Not a clue” Wow, I guess I can call him former Detective Holbrook now, because that is the first true statement I’ve heard from him in a while!
Aria is in disbelief when Spencer let’s her know that Mike has been visiting Ali in jail. Oh Aria, you are living up to your name of “Suzy Clueless” this week. First, you don’t know that Ezra is in Harrisburg for the weekend and now you can’t seem to grasp or admit that your brother is not little Mike anymore. Think Aria! Think!
Lesli is the girl that Mona spoke to the night before she was “murdered”. (I am still holding out that Mona faked her own death) She comes to town to visit Mrs. Vanderwaal and goes to find Hanna at the Brew. Now this newcomer is one suspicious character! She tries to lift Mona’s copy of The Unabridged Works of Edgar Allan Poe. As Hanna talks with Lesli in Mona’s bedroom she has a flashback of the night Mona told her about her wish to have a stopwatch that could stop time and allow her to spy on people and control them.
Later at the New Brew, Mike notices Lesli walk in with Hanna. He makes a beeline to Lesli, who is still carrying Mona’s book. (how weird) He commands Lesli to give him the book. Hanna promises Mike that she will make sure the book is returned to Mona’s room. But this interaction clues Hanna in on the importance of the book. When she returns it, Hanna has another Mona flashback that causes her to check the book and find that Mona had hidden one of Bethany’s Radley tape recordings in the spine.
Hanna leaves Mona’s with the Bethany tape and is pulled over by none other than from detective ShadyBrook, who still has not turned in his police car. Hanna pulls out her crow bar before she exits the car. (Good for you Hanna! I always keep a baseball bat in the car with me for such a time as this.) In the most gripping scene of the night, Holbrook admits that Ali used him and that he lost his career because of her. Yet he tells Hanna that he had been with internal affairs investigators for the last two weeks. He told her two other important facts: 1. Tanner knows everything. 2. There must be another fall guy who almost killed Caleb, Spencer, and Aria. Hmmm….
When he grabs Hanna, she whacks him and says what we all have been thinking, “you’re the grownup police officer” why are you messing around with a girl? *applause* Bethany’s tape does inform the girls that Bethany was very angry with someone (Ali?) and she is going to set a plan in motion.
Meanwhile, Aria follows Mike to a remote location and sees him leave a small plastic bag of candy. Is this candy for Bethany, A, or Mona? Did Mike secretly help Mona fake her death or is he following A’s instructions in order to get clues about what happened to Mona? During Mike and Aria’s argument, he tells his sister that he is not taking orders from anyone anymore and warns her to be careful going through the woods.
This really reminded me of Mona singing Teddy Bear Picnic in Season 3 as she is painting a puppet head before going to the Halloween Train. One of the lines of the song is “Every Teddy Bear who’s been good is sure of a treat today” and it goes along with Mike leaving the candy. The part that talks about hide and seek…gives me hope that Mona may be alive!!! Let’s hope so.
Until next time Liars…keep your friends close and your secrets closer!!!
"Fresh Meat" Review
Pretty Little Liars
Season 5.15
“Fresh Meat"
Last night’s episode of Pretty Little Liars was all about sleuthing and relationships. Old relationships, some interesting and surprising new ways of relating, as well as some brand new relationships that will affect the future of our PLLs. Two new characters were introduced, Thalia Sandoval who will be working in the kitchen at Ezra’s bookstore and Jonny Raymond who will be moving into the Hasting’s backyard loft. Thalia and Ezra seemed mighty friendly while Spencer has had interesting relationships with every man who has lived in the loft so far.
Let’s jump right in with one of the old relationships,Toby and Alison. Toby conveniently drops off paperwork for Tanner at the Chester Women’s Correctional Facility. While there he sees Alison “Fresh Meat” Dilaurentis sporting her new to prison bruises. Ali may not be A, but I for one was so happy that she is finally getting some payback. After she tries to guilt Toby about how he should have empathy for what she is going through, he reminds her that she was the one who lied to have him put behind bars. Score for Officer Toby!
But Toby has plenty of other things to worry about besides Alison. After finding a bloody knife behind Mona’s house, he panics and covers up the evidence because it was from his parent’s cabin. Spencer and Caleb want to destroy it, but Toby is struggling with his new commitment as an officer of the law. By the end of the episode, it is clear that his new job will be a major stressor for Spoby.
It was great to see Spencer and Caleb (SpenCa) in so many scenes together. Being two of the wittiest liars on the show, it was good to see some depth to their relationship. Caleb confessed to Spencer that he had once been arrested on suspicion of murder! After recovering the bloody knife from Mona’s backyard they took it to the kiln at Rosewood High to destroy it. Spencer should have known not to leave her buddy alone because A is always lurking the schools halls at night. Caleb gets locked inside the kiln to be destroyed along with the knife. Spencer pulls him to safety just in time, and makes sure to re-start the fire.
Aria and Emily were both spiraling out of control. Aria over her college rejection letters and Emily over Paige’s lack of communication since leaving for California. Emily get a grip...this seems too familiar! (identical response when Mya left you for California) She left you because she is hiding something! The hand writing from the note that Alison received at the end of the episode looked a lot like Paige’s handwritten note to the police when she found out Alison was alive.
Aria on the other hand takes action and drives to meet her former nemesis and Ezra’s former fiancee, Jackie Molina, at Talmadge College. Jackie works in admissions and received Aria’s ill-advised letter asking to be removed from the Talmadge’s wait list and confessing how she let her relationship with Ezra ruin her high school years. Jackie actually surprises Aria by siding with her and even getting her freshman acceptance in order. Aria, did you email that letter? You know that A has been hacking your email for years! Sure enough, she gets a book marker with a quote from her letter inside a book at Ezra’s bookstore event that night. Spencer and Hannah should not leave Emily or Aria home alone ever again!
Hanna went on a week long visit to Ballard College. But when she learns about the bloody knife and that Detective ShadyBrook has taken a personal leave to be with his ailing father, she goes to find him at Poppa Holbrook’s home in the mobile park. Of course Poppa is healthy and has not seen his son in weeks. But he mistakes Hanna for Alison (or maybe CeCe) by saying he thought that if anyone would know where he was, he thought she would. He then asks her if she was out on bail. So was Ali hiding out with ShadyBrook and his Dad while she was missing? Who was that boy on the bike? Hanna then pays a visit to Alison in jail and listens to Alison claim that she was waiting for hours to meet Cyrus on the day Mona was killed....only to find out it was a trap set by A. Hanna wasn’t buying it, and basically told Ali she was done with her.
The most shocking part of the night was seeing Ashley “Cougar” Marin hooking up with Jason DiLaurentis. Poor Pastor Ted! He loves Ashley and even posted her bail when she was falsely accused of Wilden’s murder and thrown in jail.
Mama Marin got busted when Hannah came home early from her college tour and saw the remains of dinner for two in the kitchen, and Jason getting dressed as he came down the stairs. However, in the midst of Jashley’s reveal, the writers threw in a big clue. Jason asked Ashley to look over a file that didn’t make sense to him. “We still have a tenant whose lease expired three years ago.” That would be the year that Alison went missing. So who is this tenant? Bethany, CeCe, or was it Alison? Can’t wait to find out who this tenant is!
Until next time liars, remember to keep your friends close and your secrets closer!!!
"Through A Glass, Darkly" Review
Pretty Little Liars
Season 5.14
“Through A Glass, Darkly"
It’s been three months since Mona Vanderwaal was viciously attacked in her home on Thanksgiving Day. The Winter Premiere picks up right after Mona’s memorial service and starts with a boom, or shall I say “the slap heard round the world”, as Alison appears to offer her condolences to Mona’s mother. If Ali wasn’t already crazy, Mrs. V slapped a few screws loose for sure before Hanna leads her away.
Hanna has become close to Mrs. V and receives two important gifts that belonged to Mona. Bungee, the stuffed dog, and the book Terminations by Henry James. I can’t wait to see what clues are held within each one! Finally, someone else (besides us) confirms that Hannah is playing dumb. Thanks to Mona in flashback, we know that Mona thought Hanna was “smarter than Spencer Hastings”.
Hands down the best scenes for me, were those with Mrs Grundwald. She meets Hanna at Mona’s crypt to use her gift of insight to shed light on who Mona’s attacker was, and delivers lines almost as creepy as her eyes: “Each one hated the other because each one feared the other…each one knew something about the other.” Who is the other one Mrs. G? (My likely suspects Mike, Paige, CeCe, the girl at the zoo with the distorted face, or the girl who was with Mona behind the frosted glass at the hair salon.)
Spencer learns why she was arrested for Bethany’s murder. Jessica DiLaurentis gave a statement to Detective Wilden that she saw Spencer in her backyard with a blond girl dressed in Ali’s clothes on the night Alison went missing. Wilden hid the statement in his files to no doubt continue his passion for extorting money for keeping secrets. Good thing they found it, because Bethany’s parents went to a judge to have Spencer’s bail revoked in order to send her back to jail. This eventually sends Spencer and Emily to Jason DiLaurentis to persuade him to tell the truth that his father would not tell about Ali’s whereabouts on Thanksgiving Day.
Ezra has purchased The Brew and seems to be converting it into a coffee and book nook. It’s here that Ezra invites Mike to come assist him with his bookshelves so that he can ask him how he is dealing with Mona’s death. Mike is not in a sharing mood, which prompts Ezra to share the most insightful statement of the evening…”You aren’t acting like you lost someone”. Hmmm…Mike what secrets did you and Mona really have?
Meanwhile, Aria visits Caleb to get help with hacking into Oberlin College’s website to find out why her application was rejected. She spies Mona’s computer and learns that Caleb’s attempts to break Mona’s codes have failed. So why, why, why Caleb, would you give Mona’s computer to a technical amateur like Aria!?!?! Of course, it was to give the masked black-hooded-one a chance to “find” Mike’s phone, call Aria to meet him/her at the The Brew, in order to plastic wrap Aria against the wall and steal said computer!!!
Aria later tells Emily that it was Ali who attacked her and swiped the computer, to which Emily asks, “Are you sure it was Ali?” Aria’s answer, “ Who else could it have been”, let’s us know for sure that Aria is not sure.
Speaking of Emily, let’s all do the happy dance, because Paige left for San Francisco!!! Or did she??? With no tears or I love you(s) at the airport, and Paige acting more sketchy than heartbroken, I wonder if she really got on that plane. When I watched Jason DiLaurentis watch the hidden camera footage of Mona’s attacker, I immediately thought of Paige, not Ali!
However, Jason confesses that Ali was not with the family during the time that Mona was killed and that it could be his sister in the video. This confession sends Ali to jail for her orange jumpsuit fitting! The girls can move on with their lives now because A is finally behind bars!!!! Absolutely not, because A puts on a fireworks display to end the episode!!! Hanna was right again. You can’t send fireworks from jail!
In typical PLL style we are left with more questions than answers.
UnAnswered questions of the week:
- How did traces of Mona’s DNA get in Ali’s car? (and when did Ali get a car?
- What kind of temporary assignment is Gabriel Holbrook on? (here-to-fore to be called Detective “ShadyBrook” because he is definitely shady, and more than likely Beach Hottie! [credit to Antuan Beard for the nickname])
- Who are Bethany Young’s parents?
- When will we see a photo of Bethany Young?
Hopefully, we will get answers to these and other questions next week. Until then...keep your friends close and your secrets closer!